Vehicular apparatus for removing snow and ice from streets and the like



March 9, 1954' G. sALMEN VEHICULAR APPARATUS F'OR REMOVING SNOW AND ICEFROM STREETS AND THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May l, 1951 IN VEN TOR.

}\ llll lill Il l l e, almen BY @QN wouw-M March 9, 1954 G, sALMl-:N

VEHICULAR APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SNOW AND ICE FROM STREETS AND THE' LIKE5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May l, 1951 '97 JNVENToR. Gear e ezlmen lBY @duwhen,

iorney Patented Mar. 9, y 1954 UNITED sTATss PATENT ori-*ics VEHIGULAPPATUS FORBEMDVING sNow AND los FRoM STREETS .AND

THE LIKE George Salmon, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application May' 1, 1951, Seria] No. 224,011

' (c1.- .sv-.45)

1 Claim. l

My invention relates to vehicular apparatus primarily intended forremoving snow' and ice from areas such as surfaced roads, streets andhighways, although the apparatus may also be used for other purposeshaving similar requirements.

It is common knowledge that the usual type' of snow removing apparatus',such as snow plows', are not very satisfactory in use since althoughtheyare effective in scraping the surface snow to the sides of a road,the heaped snow has to be removed by other machines, or by men whoshovel the snow into trucks.

In addition, if ice has formed, as often happens, because of the snowmelting under a warm Sun during the day and then freezing during thenight, such machines do not operate to advantage since the plow bladestend to slide over the frozen surface.

It is an object of my invention to provide snow and ice removingapparatus which incorporates means having a combined cutting andshoveling action, which not only removes surface or loose snow, but alsodigs into and breaks up compacted snow or ice, or a covering of both,'in a positive and rapid operation. I

Another object of inv invention is toA provide vehicular apparatus for'breaking up and gatheri ingrsnow and icelon surfaced areas which is, inaddition, provided with conveyor means whereby the material removed fromthe surface Vof the roadl or other area, is raised to' a level fromwhich l.it may be dumped into trucks travelling alongside the apparatusand removed' in a continuous operation not requiring'- the use of agang' of loaders.

A further object of my invention is to provide' an automotive vehicularapparatus for breaking up and removing ice and snow from surfacedareasand dumping the removed material, which is simply and stronglyconstructed and arranged so that the parts subject to the most wear andshock may be readily replaced when required.

One difliculty in ensuring satisfactory removal of snow and ice 'fromroads is that lhighfspotsl rocks or other obstructions in the road maycause unevenness at some points and a scraping blade might' be eitherstopped or damaged by contact with the obstructions or the whole blademight be raised in passing over the obstruction.

Accordingly it is another object of my invention to provide an apparatusprovidedv with a plurality of means havingv a digging and shovellingaction and which are resiliently mounted so that they will actefficiently on such rough surfaces without being damaged thereby.

Still further objects and features of my inventionuwill appear in thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings or anembodiment of my invention at present considered preferable by me.

ln the drawings:` Y

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the vehicular snow and ice removingapparatus of my invention, with that chain for driving the front Ave-'jhicle Wheels nearest the viewer, being broken away to reveal parts nototherwise disclosed..

Fig. 2 is a front View elevation or tl'iev apparatus, the body of atruck in position for receiving removed material dumped from theapparatus, being shown in section.

V`Fig. 3 is a plan 'View` of the apparatus shown in Fie'. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 4"-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5lis afra'gmentary cross section on the line 555 of Fig. l, but ona larger scale.

y Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross' section onthe' line ti-S of Fig. 2, butdrawn on a larger scale. Fig. '7` is a fragmentary cross section on theline le-JlI vof Fig. 3, but on a larger scale.

rig. sis an emerged View showing in perspem tive one of a plurality ofplates incorporated in a digging and shovelling means oi the apparatus.

Fig. '9 is an enlarged `detail perspectivevview of one of the members inwhich the plates shown in vFig'. c are mounted. Y p ,p

`'In Fig. 1, the numeral Ill indicates generally the bed frame of avehicle lon which the snow and ice removing means 'of my invention aremounted, and whichv comprises longitudinal members Il and transversemembers l2. The vvehicle is provided with front Wheels lI3 and I4mounted on an axle I5 carried in bearing bracke ets I6, l1, bolted orotherwise connected to the frame members of the vehicle. A pair `ofsteerable rear Wheels I8, [9 are mounted in castering forks 3,21lrotatably mounted at the back of the vehicle in' bearings 22, 23 securedto 'the ve hicle frame". n u

Arms 24, `2li are secured,tov the forks zo, 2 l' Vand are connected bya' par as pivotany secured to the arms. A steering column 21 is' fittedat its upper end with a steering arm 28, and at its lower endwithan arm29. The outer end of arm 29 is fitted with a depending pin 35 rotatablein the par 2s. thus affording a direct steering air*- r'angement for therear wheels i8, It. It 'is obs vious that any other suitable steeringarrange-'- ment may be provided, that described being given by way 'ofexample only;

An engine or motor, generally indicated at 3l,

is mounted at the rear of the frame |0. The engine and all controls forthe apparatus are arranged within easy reach of the drivers seat 33, anda closed drivers cab 34 is provided with the door thereof indicated at35.

A main engine driven shaft 36 is arranged transversely at the rear ofthe frame I0, and a clutch 31 operated by a lever 38 is provided toconnect and disconnect the shaft 36 to the transmission contained in abox 31a. Rear sprocket wheels 39, 40 xed on the ends of the shaft 36,sprockets 4|, 42 fixed on the shaft I5 and drive chains I43, 44connecting the sprocket wheels provide a driving mechanism for wheelsI3, I4.

A frame comprising vertical beams 45, 46 are mounted toward the front ofthe main frame I 0, and are braced from the longitudinal members I I bydiagonal struts 41, 48.

A frame, generally indicated at is pivoted at its upper end on atransverse shaft 52 carried in bearings 53, 54 secured to the verticalbeams 45, y46 adjacent the upper ends thereof. 'I'he frame comprisesspaced side members 55, 56, in the lower ends of which is mounted ashaft 51. Upper sprockets 58, Fig. 6, are fixed on the ends of shaft 52,and lower sprockets 59, Fig. '7, are similarly fixed on the ends of thelower shaft 51 on the inner sides of the side members 55, 56. Endlesschains 60, 6| are trained around such upper and lower sprockets.

A wide and endless conveyor belt 62 of suitably flexible and strongmaterial, such as heavy webbing is secured along its edges in anysuitable manner to chains 60, 6|. Angle bars 63 are riveted to extendacross the width of the conveyor belt and are spaced along the lengththereof and prevent ice and snow from sliding downwards on the upperstretch of the belt.

The lower end of the conveyor frame 5| is supported for verticalmovement by an arm 64 f of a bell crank lever pivoted at 65 in a bearingsupported on the floor |2a of the cab. The other arm 66a. of the bellcrank lever is fitted with a handle 61 and a releasable detent 68engageable with a notch 66 in a quadrant 69. Arm 64 is pivoted at itsouter end to a link which in turn is pivoted on a cross rod 1| midway ofits length. Rod 1| is mounted at its ends in triangular brackets 12, 13extending upwardly from the lower ends of the frame side members 55, 56.

Side plates 14, extending upwardly and over the edges of the belt 62 aresupported by brackets .16, 11 and 18, 19 bolted or riveted to the sidemembers 55, 56 and to the plates. These plates serve to confine the snowand ice on the belt 62.

Snow and ice loosening and shovelling means generally indicated at 80,and a gathering and guiding means generally indicated at 8|, are carriedby the frame 5|.

The snow and ice loosening and shovelling means 80 is mounted on a shaft82 carried at each end in bearing blocks 83, 84 vertically movable insupporting brackets 85, 86, depending from the side members 55, 56 andformed with vertical guideways 81, 88 (Fig. 4) for the bearing blocks.Coil springs 89, 90 are positioned between the tops of guideways 81. 88and the tops of the bearing blocks.

The means 80 comprises a plurality of units 9| (Fig. 9) all fixed to theshaft 82. Each unit 9| comprises a hub 92 receiving the shaft 82, alongitudinal keyway 93 being provided alignable with a longitudinalkeyway 94 in the shaft and both receiving a key 94a to fix the hub tothe shaft. Arms 95 are fixed to and radiate from the hub 92 and aretapered from the hub outwardly 'to their free ends into relatively sharptransverse edges a. The side faces of the arms 95 are provided withparallel anges 96, 91, the grooves 98 between the anges being alignedwith grooves 98a in the hubs 92. Plates |00 (Figs. 4 and 8) are fittedinto the facing grooves of the arms of adjacent units 9|, and aresecured therein by screws |0I. Six units 9| are shown in Fig. 4 and veplates |00 are secured between each series of aligned arms 95 to spanthe space between the same.

Sprocket Wheels |85, |66 are secured on the ends of shaft 82, and otherWheels |01, |08 are mounted on the ends of shaft 51 on the outer sidesof the side members 55 and 56. Endless chains |09, ||0 are mounted onsprockets |05. |01, and |06, |08 respectively. These wheels and chainsprovide means for driving the units 9| from the shaft 51, as will beunderstood.

The gathering and guiding means 8| comprises a blade I, Figs. 1 and 7,inclined rearwardly and upwardly and curving around the lower end of theconveyor belt 62. The leading edge of the blade is preferably made ofespecially tough steel and tted as a renewable element ||2 secured tothe lower edge of the blade. The blade is held in place on the frame ofthe vehicle by depending side plates ||3 secured at their upper ends tobrackets 12, 13. The blade is secured at its upper edge to a rod 1| bybrackets ||4, and is supported intermediate its length by a rod |5 whichis secured at its ends in the side plates I3. To ensure that the loweredge of the blade being held closely adjacent the surface being clearedbut to prevent the edge digging into such surface, rollers ||1 aremounted on a rod ||8 supported at its ends in the side plates.

The conveyor belt 62 delivers material to a transversely arrangeddelivery conveyor, generally indicated at H9, supported by the posts 45,45, and a second pair of posts |20, |2| supported at their lower ends onthe side members of the vehicle frame and braced by diagonal braces |22,|23 secured to cross member |2. Posts |20, |2| may be secured at theirupper ends to the upper ends of posts 45, 46 by any suitable means as,for instance, by the plate |24.

Sprockets |25, |26 (Fig. 5) are mounted adjacent posts 45, |20 and posts46, |2|, on shafts |21, |21a mounted in bearings in transverse lengthsof angle irons |29, |30 extending between posts 45, 46 and posts |20,|2|. Endless chains I 3|, |32 are mounted on the sprockets |25, |26, andan endless conveyor belt |33 of suitable pliable material such as heavywebbing is secured to the chains. To the chains and the conveyor belt|33 transverse angle bars |34 are secured in any suitable manner.

A sprocket |35 is secured on shaft |21a and a sprocket |36, aligned withsprocket |35, is mounted on a short shaft |31 mounted in brackets |38,|39 (Fig. 3) secured on the upper ends of posts 45, and |2|. A sleeve|45 is mounted on shaft |31 for axial adjustment, while held forrotation with the shaft by a spline or key connection therewith, asindicated at I4 I. The sleeve |40 may be moved axially by a pin |42projecting from a horizontal lever |43 and engaging between collars |44.|45 fixed on the sleeve. Lever I 43 is mounted on a pivot |46 projectingfrom a crossbar |41 secured to the posts 45 and |2|. crossbar |41 alsoserving to support, or being formed to provide the brackets |38, |39.

A pair of opposed bevel gears |48, |49 are nxed on sleeve |43 and arespaced apart so that either one lor the other vmay be brought into meshVwith a bevel gear |50 xed to the upper shaft 52.

The shaft 52 is rotated when required from the shaft 35 through lasprocket |5| secured on shaft 52, driving chain |52 and sprocket |53fixed on a sleeve |54., freely rotatable on shaft 3E. Sleeve |54 may beconnected to shaft 35 by a clutch |55 comprising teeth formed on a sideface of sleeve |54 and on aside face of sleeve |56 slidable on, but heldfor rotation with shaft 3S by a spline connection indicated at |57. Theclutch sleeve |56 may be moved on shaft 36 toward sprocket |53-toclutch'the wheel |53 to the shaft 36, or in the reverse direction toleave the sprocket disconnected from the shaft, by means of a lever |59pivoted on a bracket i projecting from and secured to the side frame ofthe vehicle. 'One end of the lever |59 is provided with a pin '13|projecting into the groove iii-2 of the sleeve 158. The opposite end oflever is connected by a push-pull rod |54. to an arm '|55 projectingfrom a vertical shaft iota 'supported in a vertical tubular bearing lee.An operating lever' |51 is secured to the upper end of shaft |65a. Theclutch rmay be held in engaged or disengaged position by any suitablemeans associated 'with the shaft |65a.

The material deposited on delivery conveyor` belt |33 may be deliveredfrom either side of the l' machine, depending on the setting of thebevel gear train |48, |50, |49, by a detachable delivery chute |69removably secured by bolts |70, to the vertical posts at the front ofthe machine. As shown in Fig. 2 the delivery chute is arranged fordumping material into a truck body at the side of the vehicle. In theoperation of the apparatus, the engine 3| operates to drive the wheels|3 through the chains 43, 4t, and thus propel the vehicle forwardly asindicated by the arrow in Fig. l. During travel of the vehicle to aroad, street or highway to be cleared of snow and ice, the arm 66 is ina position to the left end of the quadrant 63 in which it is held by thedetent 58. In this position of the arm S6 the frame 5| is held in theelevated position indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, so that the bladethe rollers ||1, and the arms 95 are all elevated to positions whichwill clear road surfaces over which the vehicle may travel to theparticular road to be cleared.

Upon reaching the road to be cleared the operator moves the arm 56 toits forward position thus lowering the blade, rollers, and arms 95 tooperative positions, as shown in Fig. l. By now actuating the arm |65the clutch |55 may be operated to connect the shaft 36 to the sprocket|53 through chain |52 and sprocket |5| to drive shaft 52 for driving theconveyor belt G2 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. With drivingof the conveyor belt the shaft 57 is also driven through the chains 63,6| to drive the shaft 82 so that the arms 95 with the plates |08 arerotated in the direction of the arrow in Fig. l.

Thus the arms 95 below the shaft 82 are driven downwardly, rearwardlyand then upwardly to cause their outer relatively sharp ends 95a to digand cut the snow and ice along lines extending lengthwise of thehighway. The outer edges of the plates may also be made relatively sharpso as to dig and cut the snow and ice on lines extending across thehighway. 'Ihus the arms and plates coact to break up and thus loosen thesnow and ice as the vehicle moves along a highway.

Because of the width of the plates |00 and the fact that they span 'thearms cf adjacent units, these plates act as shovels to sweep theloosened ice and snow rearwardly and upwardly against the blade I whichis carried forwardly with the vehicle, the material being guidedupwardly over and onto the surface of the conveyor B2. The angie barswill ensure upward movement of the material between the .sides '14--15of the conveyor and the delivery of the material onto the trans verseconveyor belt |33.

It may be desired tc deliver the material cleared from the street toeither one .side or the other yof the vehicle into .a truck travellingalong? side the vehicle. This is provided for by the fdriv ing geararrangement for the conveyor belt |38 andthe detachable delivery chute|54. If it is desired to change delivery of material from one side ofthe vehicle to the lother the bolts HB of the chute are removed, and thechute fixed in position on the opposite side of the vehicle as indicatedin dot dash line in Fig. 2. The direction of travel of the conveyor beltis changed by moving lever |43 in the direction Opposite to that inwhich it is set thus engaging the previously ldisengaged gear of thepair of gears |48, |49 with gear |53.

.It will be noted that the resilient bearing arrangement for the shaft82 of thedigging .and shovelling means enables such .means to adaptitself to small differences in the surface of the road or street, and toabsorb shocks, such as might be caused by an arm striking a large stone,without breaking. However, should one of the arms be broken from anycause, or a plate |00 be cracked, the damaged part may be readilyremoved and replaced.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of vehicularapparatus for removing snow and ice from roads, streets or highways, itis to be understood that various changes and modifications may be madeherein without departing from the spirit of my invention and the spiritand scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In an apparatus for removing snow and ice from roads, streets and likesurfaces, comprising a vehicle having a horizontal bed frame and anupright frame extending upwardly at one end thereof, said horizontal bedframe having front and rear supporting wheels, the front wheels beingspaced apart and located adjacent one end of the bed frame and on eachside thereof, a single elevator conveyor including a pivotally inclinedframe for supporting the same, the elevator conveyor and its supportingframe being of substantially the same width as the horizontal bed frameand extending lengthwise thereof, the elevator frame being pivotedadjacent the top of the upright frame and inclined downwardly at anangle of approximately 45 with the upright frame, a mechanism carried bythe bed frame and connected to the lower end of the elevator frame forraising and lowering the lower end of the elevator frame relative to theroad or street surfaces over which the vehicle is passing, a horizontalconveyor extending along the top of the upright frame and cross-wise inrelation to the horizontal bed frame, the horizontal conveyor beingmounted directly above the front supporting wheels, one edge of thehorizontal conveyor being slightly beneath the upper end of the inclinedconveyor to receive the snow and ice caried un the inclined conveyor, anelongated horizontal rotor mounted upon a horizontal shaft; the rotorbeing of substantially the same width as the inclined elevator conveyorand having means for mounting the same under the lower end of thesupportingr frame of the inclined conveyor for detaching the snow andice from the road surface, said rotary supporting means consisting of apair of arms extending forwardly and substantially horizontally from andunder the lower end of the inclined conveyor frame and in a planesubstantially parallel with the side of the said frame and acorresponding vertical supporting bracket extending downwardly from eachside of the said frame to the outer end of the horizontal arms and xedlyconnected thereto, the junction of the arms and brackets having verticalguideways formed therein, a bearing block carried within each guidewayfor supporting the shaft, a resilient member carried between the tops ofthe guideways and the bearing blocks for resiliently supporting the saidblocks to provide for a limited upward movement of the rotor should therotor come in contact with an obstruction, the said rotor having aplurality of radial blades of equal length secured to the horizontalshaft. a curved scooping blade secured to and under the lower end of theinclined elevator frame and located immediately in rear of the rotor,the lower edge of said blade being substantially in a horizontal planewith the lowest point of the rotating blades of the rotor, the scoopextending upwardly and around the lower end of the elevator conveyor andterminating above the upper surface thereof for receiving the snow andice from the rotor end depositing the same on the upper surface of theinclined conveyor, a rolling support carried on the lower end of theinclined conveyor for guaging the lower end of the scoop and rotor apredetermined distance from the road surface. a single power plantcarried rearwardly of the lower end of the inclined conveyor foroperating the rotor, the inclined and horizontal conveyors and formoving the vehicle along and over the road or street surfaces.

GEORGE SALMEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 687,312 Hughes Nov. 26, 1901 818,214 Anderson Apr. 17, 1906825,226 Linden July 3, 1906 1,502,430 Hayes July 22, 1924 1,567,627Stanton Dec. 29, 1925 1,654,685 Gettelman Jan. 3, 1928 1,724,494 MaustAug. 13, 1929 2,093,721 Grattan Sept. 21, 1937 2,150,396 Niewendorp Mar.14, 1939 2,547,752 Hasskamp Apr. 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number CountryDate 747,275 France Mar. 28, 1933

